Conditions are right for hot coastal fishing

Fourchon guide gives fishing forecast for specks, reds.

Courtesy of Capt. Steve Shook

There have been some big fish caught off Fourchon Beach lately, and the weather and tides are finally lining up to provide hot action.

The atmosphere over the Louisiana coast has stabilized, and the howling winds have become less audible. The water levels are going back to normal. A half moon looms overhead, creating stronger tides to pull more shrimp and minnows to the shoreline.

In short, it’s time to gather your gear and get out to the coast this weekend because the fishing is going to be on this weekend (June 29-July1).

“It’s gonna be great: The seas should be down to 1 foot this weekend,” said Capt. Steve Shook with Gulf Coast Fishing Charters. “We are coming on that full moon, the water has been choppy and brown — which causes the fish to not feed as much.

“Now that it’s clearing up they’ll be ready to eat.”

If you want to take it easy and fish with plastics, Shook suggests using a Deadly Dudley salt-and-pepper with a chartreuse tail. But going through the extra effort of acquiring some live croakers or pogies might bring in those monster trout that Shook himself is so famous for.

A few weeks ago the veteran guide landed a 10-6 speckled trout fishing the Fourchon Beach surf.

“All I fish is live bait — the bigger the bait the bigger the catch. Croakers and pogies catch big trout,” Shook noted.

Finding bait is the key.

“I look for the same conditions to catch pogies as I do with trout,” Shook said. “I just wait for that signature pogie tail-flip in the water, and I usually catch them while it’s still dark.”

The surf should be hot this weekend; fishermen should find some good cuts, holes, or mullet and bird action along Fourchon and Elmer’s beaches.

A combination of good conditions and halfway competent fish-locating techniques should yield those ridiculous trout numbers that make you wish you had an extra fish cleaner.

“If you’re fishing with pogies, I would suggest hooking it in the butt with a smaller circle hook and just let it flow naturally with some floating green-thread line,” Shook said. “Hook and meat is all I use.”

Click here to check tide charts for this weekend, while weather forecasts can be found here.

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